Rand Paul Heads To Howard University For GOP Minority Outreach

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is joining the GOP’s minority outreach campaign this week, with a speech at Washington D.C.’s Howard University on Wednesday.

Paul will discuss “inclusion in the Republican Party” and “the history of the African-American community’s roots in the Republican Party” at the historically black university founded shortly after the Civil War, while also touching on “current issues, such as school choice and civil liberties,” according to Howard University’s release

Although Rand Paul has touted himself as a champion of civil liberties, his record on civil rights is far murkier.

The Tea Party lawmaker came under scrutiny during his 2010 campaign for Senate when he argued that the Civil Rights Act should never have included Title II, the provision that barred private businesses from discriminating against customers on the basis of race. He told theLouisville-Courier Journal in 2010, “I don’t like the idea of telling private business owners—I abhor racism. I think it’s a bad business decision to exclude anybody from your restaurant—but, at the same time, I do believe in private ownership.”